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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 335

The bus would go so slow you could get out and run along beside it. It wouldn't blow your hat off because it didn't get up enough speed. It was a Ford. I was born in 1921, and when I was about 6 or 7 years old I started school and rode the bus. They'd let us off two or three weeks during the cotton-picking season. When asked if they had desks at school, Duncan said they did. Duncan, as well as his sister Edith, went to high school in New Hope. Duncan would drive himself and his sister from their home to the blacksmith's shop, leave his car, and from there they would ride a school bus to New Hope. The Church. Having discussed the school, Duncan stated that there was a church (Methodist) in Pond Beat across from the store (the church was on Parcel D-159; it was discussed earlier). He said his family often went to the church in Farley. When asked why they went there instead of to the church that was closer, Duncan said, “There wasn't enough white people there to attend and make it interesting. There was no full-time preacher.” Duncan said his mother drove them to the church in Farley. His Sunday school teacher there was Lilly Latham. He said that she was a great lady and, in later years, the church on Weatherly Road was named after her. To get to the church on Farley, Duncan said they would come out the Farley Road (now Buxton) to Whitesburg Pike (now Memorial Parkway) and go south. The school was on the right, and the next intersection after the school, we'd turn left and go a half-mile or more. These instructions can be followed today since the current Farley School was built on the site of the original one. The Depression Duncan said: The depression days, 1930 to 1935, were really some hard times. My family did fairly well because we had all that land. We didn't get much for cotton and corn, but we sold vegetables. We took them to Huntsville to cafes and small grocery stores. If we didn't sell out, we'd go into villages and go door-to-door selling. 335 - (4368)